First Official Week of Teaching

Other then my physical discomfort this past week has been good.  Our official schedule seems to be coming together.  Mondays are dedicated to public health lectures, and Tuesdays are lessons on nutritional cooking. We are trying to show them how to have a balance diet using their traditional foods. (Diabetes is a big problem here). Wednesdays are dental days.  We give multiple dental lectures and pull teeth all morning long.  Thursdays are the miscellaneous days. We can chose to do whatever productive project for the day. Currently, we are working on a hospital directory and badges for all the staff. Fridays we meet the traditional birth attendants and community health workers. These meetings are continuing education meetings.  We continue to build on the information they already know. 

This past monday our translator didn't come so we weren't able to do much.  We decided to give our public health lecture on Tuesday instead. We went to urgence (it is the emergency pavillion) and gave public health lectures to the waiting patients. The lecture was on personal hyigene.  

It was a lot of fun.  We performed an interactive skit about a family that didn't wash their hands. We showed how the germs spread around and how you could get sick from them.  The laughter and other various reactions of the patients drew a crowd.  We had other demostrations and engaging activities.  Everyone had a great time.  In the end there were approximately 60 in the audience. 

We made a new friend, who became our arabic translator (for free!!), during our lecture.  His name was Ferdinand.  He was very talkative. He told us how he was a public health student doing his residency in  the hospital. He was super excited about Project 21 (this is the public health project I am working under) and promised to help us for the rest of his residency. He also promised to help us learn French.  

It wasn't until the next day that I found out he was the one who yearned for an American wife. Nevertheless, I was already being careful when I spoke with him.  I judged whether he was flirting with me (or not) based on how he treated the guys.  He treated them the same way!! I don't understand, but whatever...I guess he is super friendly.

I wasn't able to pull teeth on dental day. I signed people in, taking down thier contact information and blood pressure. Next time I get to pull teeth though. 

Sabbath school was great! There were about 45 kids there.  We taught them how to sing "Making Melodies," and the kids taught us songs in French.  We had a blast! We hear the children singing the songs every now and then.  They are such a blessing.